ON THE ESTIMATION OF FOREST RESOURCES USING 3D REMOTE SENSING TECHNIQUES AND POINT CLOUD DATA

摘要

In recent years, 3D capable remote sensing techniques have shown great potential in forest biomass estimation because of their ability to measure the forest canopy structure, tree height and density. The objective of the Dragon3 forest resources research project (ID 10667) and the supporting ESA young scientist project (ESA contract NO. 4000109483/13/I-BG) was to study the use of satellite based 3D techniques in forest tree height estimation, and consequently in forest biomass and biomass change estimation, by combining satellite data with terrestrial measurements. Results from airborne 3D techniques were also used in the project. Even though, forest tree height can be estimated from 3D satellite SAR data to some extent, there is need for field reference plots. For this reason, we have also been developing automated field plot measurement techniques based on Terrestrial Laser Scanning data, which can be used to train and calibrate satellite based estimation models. In this paper, results of canopy height models created from TerraSAR-X stereo and TanDEM-X INSAR data are shown as well as preliminary results from TLS field plot measurement system. Also, results from the airborne CASMSAR system to measure forest canopy height from P- and X-band INSAR are presented.